1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus including a sheet cassette configured to stack a sheet, and to an image forming apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is generally known a configuration for separating and feeding sheets stacked in a sheet cassette (sheet feeding cassette) one by one to an image forming portion in a sheet feeding apparatus provided in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier or the like. Conventionally, as such configuration of the sheet feeding apparatus for separating and feeding sheets, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-347662 has disclosed a sheet cassette provided with a bottom plate that oscillates up and down with respect to a body of the sheet cassette. This arrangement makes it possible to feed sheets stacked in the sheet cassette while separating one by one by making an uppermost sheet among the sheets contact with and separate from a feed roller by oscillating the bottom plate.
The sheet feeding cassette described above is also provided with an end guide that guides a rear end of the sheets stacked therein. This end guide is configured such that a hook portion thereof is engaged with an engage member that slides on the sheet feeding cassette in linkage with the oscillation of the bottom plate so that the end guide can rotate back and forth concurrently with the oscillation of the bottom plate.
Still further, the end guide is formed such that a position thereof can be adjusted back and forth in accordance to a sheet size by disengaging the end guide from a fixing groove by lifting an end guide fixing member by an end guide manipulating portion. It is noted that Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-347662 also describes that it is desirable to be able to unlock the hook portion described above from the engage member by manipulating the end guide manipulating portion at this time.
By the way, if the sheet feeding cassette is configured such that the hook portion is disengaged in linkage with the end guide fixing member as described above, an interlocking relationship between the end guide and the bottom plate is also released by disengaging the hook portion. If a user freely moves the end guide at this time, there is a possibility that a positional correlation of the end guide with the bottom plate is shifted.